Different way of looking at time

I’ve been thinking about time and the arrow of time we’ve learnt to live by i.e things that happened yesterday is the past, right now is the present and next year is the future. I understand how our quantification of time (60 seconds as a minute, 60min in an hours etc) is necessary for things to function in our society. My question is about our frame of reference. Technically we are looking at time from one frame of reference. Let me illustrate what I mean. If we move from 1996 (point A) to 2012 (point B) we have moved forward according to our arrow of time and frame of reference (point C) but if we we’re to look at the movement from a different frame of reference (point D) then 1996 can be the future and 2012 can be the past. Even though this is theoretically possible, how do you guys interpret this? If we are to look at space and time as one continuum, that means that everything that is happening, will happen and has happened is doing so simultaneously on this continuum. What are the implications of this in terms of history being cyclical, the future having already happened, and where exactly on this said continuum would the area of land be in 1400 that now in 2012 is New York?

I know I ask a lot of questions related to one topic per discussion. I’m just so curious about everything.

There is no time. Time is but an idea of the mind. If you have memories you have time. Time is the needed link between your memories. In reality there is only NOW. You act in this now, this is where you always live . You may say about the future. Future is the projection of the past in your mind. You know things happened you make connections and expect things to happen. And of course you try to control them based on what you already now. If you had no memory or no way to record events as memories you could not appropriate the concept of time. There would be only now. But you are able to record memories and base your actions on them and perceive what you think it is time. But inquire a bit in what you think you know about time. How it is relative to the things you do – sometimes passes faster sometimes seems to be on hold :) If there was a time it was standard – like clockwork even for our minds. But we create time we bend it we make it go away.

I agree that time is the fourth dimension but does it not only exist because we move? Like @hollowinfinity, mentioned in the thread @1love, included a link for. If we live in only a small grid of space-time then if the universe didn’t exist (at least our universe) would space and time still exist?

Personally I feel that science is kind of asking the wrong question about the “beginning” of the universe. Wouldn’t we just be infinitely able to trace it back?

If the past is entirely in our mind and memory, how then can the very notion of time travel be possible? Isn’t that only under the assumption that space and time is ONE continuum? I apologize if I ask questions that have been posted in older threads. If so you can direct me to them. The one I have been directed to I am currently reading and keep coming back here with questions related to my initial post.

My personal theory is that time is the percieved direction and rate of entropy. In my opinion, when the universe reaches the highest level of order possible (Chaos Theory), entropy will reverse itself, and the big crunch will begin, this means that time will effectively be reversed. There are many possible ways to achieve time travel, travel really fast is one way. One of the implications of The Theory of Relitivity is that the faster we go, distances actually contract and decrease. Since space and time are a continuum, that means that you expierence less time, so your traveling to the future. Another way to travel to the future, is to park your space craft in a stable orbit, in the gravity well of a black hole. Since the internal pressures of entropy are alleviated by the black hole (my theory), you would expierence the dilation of time. Traveling back in time is more tricky, many believe it is impossible to truly travel back in time in our universe, so it would more than likely be traveling to a parallel universe, which is expierencing a similar era in time. To accomplish this feat, you would have to be able to create, stabilize, and manipulate a black hole.

Yes you can travel really fast one way, but then how does this mere attribute of velocity reverse the position of the entire universe (stars, galaxies, constellations) to their position in 1200 or 60 000 BC or even before the formation of the earth? Could you also provide links for the chaos theory, it sounds fascinating.

Let’s branch off on a slight tangent here which I probably will need to start a new discussion for. If we look at the law of complexity stating that matter tends to become more complex and conscious over time; and we look at the multiverse as one giant consciousness. What are your thoughts on the possibility of a parallel universe being in one’s mind? Seeing as the whole concept of a parallel universe being different worlds in which every individual choice of every person exists. Wouldn’t a parallel universe be created whenever you are faced with a choice, and thus exist in your mind/consciousness?